The Toronto Eagles season has ended after a 48 point defeat to the Etobicoke Kangaroos in last weekends AFL Ontario Preliminary Final.

The Eagles began the game without key onballer Ralph Koens, who was unable to play due to a knee injury. This forced some last minute adjustments to the already undermanned Eagles midfield.

The game was widely tipped to be a physical contest given the history between the two clubs, and the opening minutes of the game certainly lived up to the hype.

However, despite the strong attack on the ball the Eagles lacked poise when entering inside 50 and were unable to find the goals despite several early opportunities.

At the other end the Kangaroos onballers were able to get forward and kick some important early goals. Unfortunately, the Eagles conceded two consecutive goals from 50m penalties that handed the Kangaroos a five-goal quarter time buffer.

The second quarter was much stronger for the Eagles, matching the Kangaroos and ensuring they remained firmly in contention at the main break.

The third continued the tight tussle but again the Eagles were unable to move the ball forward with any fluidity or to gain any significant scoreboard momentum.

A strong performance at full back from Matt Bachinski was keeping his opponent under wraps, so the Kangroos were forced to turn to their midfield for goals.

Despite tight marking by Frank Lussier and Kevin Minaker, the class of the Kangaroos midfield was too much to contain as they were able to provide the necessary goals from stoppages.

In the ruck, Eagle Ajit Alister, was having a great battle with with his opposing ruckman. Both were amongst the best for their respective teams and it was a tremendous effort by ‘Jitters’ to go head to head with the competitions premier ruckman all day.

At the final change Eagles coach Falcioni rallied the troops for one last charge, and the Eagles responded by dominating the early part of the final quarter.

Again as was the story of the day, the Eagles were unable to translate that into scoreboard pressure and the Kangaroos ran out winners. Despite the margin, the Eagles can remain proud of their effort during the game and throughout the 2011 season.

TORONTO EAGLES 1.0 3.0 4.0 4.1 (25)
GUELPH GARGOYLES 5.1 8.3 10.5 11.7 (73) 

GOALS
A. Falcioni , M. Conroy , M. Peterson , A. Alister

BEST
A. Alister, M. Bichinski, T. Dimacakos

INJURIES
Nil

REPORTS: Nil

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.